Chapter 6: Part 2

“What is this? Is this something that actually happened?” Orion said as he came up behind me.

“Judging from the scene and looking at the bones all around us, I would say yeah.”

“This is crazy,” Orion whispered in astonishment as his eyes continued to follow the story on the wall. I backed away from the mural a little slowly as I glanced around the rest of the room. I didn’t want to look at the mural anymore, or else it would take me back to those wretched memories. Too late, my mind carried me back to a memory of when I was a young girl growing up with my family in a compound similar to the one we are in now. It seemed peaceful and loving at first. I remember vividly my parents’ smiles and the smiles of everyone else. How their eyes would look at you as if you were the only thing that mattered in the world. However, the compound went through a horrible famine, and we were starving to death. The famine lasted for 3 years, and because our livelihood relied on our crops, we were slowly withering away. With no crops to feed us and nothing else for us to be able to trade with, our once peaceful compound fell into utter chaos. The screams of all of those whom I once called family began to echo in my ears. Family members turned against family members, all because we thought that our god had left us. Our compound resorted to madness to try to appease our god, but to no avail. No matter what we did not once did our suffering end. This was why I hunted the Light Keepers. Their religion, just like all others, only brings destruction and shame to those around them. They need to be stopped.

“-omander, Commander Kira!” I snap out of my flashback with the voice of Orion bringing me back to the present.

“Sorry, I was lost in thought. Now, you understand why we track these parasites down?” I said as I practically spat the words out in disgust.

“I mean, I do now, I didn’t know they could be so evil. I have to ask, though, what makes us so different from them? I mean, we are slavers.”

“We don’t pretend to be something we’re not.” I turned my gaze downward to examine the ground, and I saw a faint imprint on the dirt. Footprints. They must lead somewhere else in the cave. “Let’s keep moving. This way.” We walk down another long, winding corridor in the cave, the light from the torches fading as we get deeper and deeper. Finally, we come to the end, where there is another room. This room looked a little different as the walls were a little too smooth to be natural. It was probably carved out by human hands. We walked through and saw empty chains hanging from the wall and what appeared to be fresh blood on the ground. Another dead end, we were too late. “Come, Lieutenant, let’s head back. There is nothing more for us to do here.”

The light blue of the sky greeted our eyes as dawn began to approach. Our company had already rounded up all of the merchandise and was sitting around waiting for us to get back.

“What are we going to do now, Commander?” Orion asked. I paused in thought before answering.

“For now, let's head back home and interrogate the prisoners and Sarah. Between them, we should be able to pick up a clue as to where our slaves could have gone.” I could see that my lieutenant hesitated, almost as if he had something else to say. Without saying another word, he then walked over to the soldiers and had everyone begin the journey back.